Totally remember picking up this game on launch day at my local EB Games and hearing the cashier tell me that I was one of three pre-orders for the game. A huge grin crept across my face upon realizing what exactly I had just purchased before everyone else picked up on the game.

I played so much GTA3, me and a friend played it every weekend for a full year. Yes it is the least refined of the PS2 GTAs because it was the first out the gate but I still think it was so damn fun and revolutionary despite its issues.

I played this on PC with mouse and keyboard and my friends couldn't handle the thought of not using a controller. Also playing on PC allowed me to use mods and change the game data to allow me to do things like... make the tank handle like a sports car.

On a side note, I was once interested in Dead Island, now I have nothing but scorn for it.

One of my college roomates had just gotten a PS2 when this game came out, but never got a memory card. I started playing the game and I just left the PS2 on pause for hours at a time for several days before beating it. When he finally got a card and went on to play the game the disc was ruined. (To be fair, I did ask if he was cool with it as it was happening and he said yes and declined my offer to purchase a new one. I would later go on to take a floor lamp which might have been his when I moved out) Had a great time later on replaying it on Xbox with the Vice City double pack and San Andreas subsequently.